Donald Trump has no idea what he’s doing
Every time Donald Trump makes a move these days, we instantly hear explanations from pundits (on both sides) about what Trump’s strategy is. No matter how random, dumb, senile, or self defeating of a move Trump might make, there are always people on TV and Twitter who are willing to helpfully explain how it’s actually a savvy move that’s going to help him. But that’s just never the case these days.
Take, for instance, Trump’s upcoming criminal trial in Washington DC. Trump is claiming he has presidential immunity, and so the U.S. Court of Appeals is in the process of swiftly ruling against him on this. It’s not likely to delay his March 2024 trial date at all, because trial dates are scheduled well in advance in order to allow time for these kinds of appeals.
As a standard procedural move, Judge Tanya Chutkan announced that the Trump case was being put on hold pending the appeals court ruling. This means nothing. It’s not a victory for Trump. It’s not a delay. Any legal expert can tell you that it’s not anything. In fact, since the “hold” began, Jack Smith has continued making filings in the case. And why wouldn’t he? A “hold” isn’t a stoppage or a delay. It isn’t anything.
But Donald Trump doesn’t seem to understand that. On Thursday he had his lawyers ask the courts to hold Jack Smith in contempt for daring to make filings in the case while it’s on hold. Trump seems to think his trial has actually been delayed, or shut down, or brought to an end. He thinks the “hold” in the case means that the appeals court is on his side. He thinks he’s winning, based on nothing at all.
More to the point, Trump’s attorneys are either unwilling or unable to get him to understand that the “hold” isn’t a win for him. Trump believes that his trial has been shut down and that Jack Smith is breaking the law by continuing to make filings, and that the courts are somehow going to crack down on Smith for making filings. And he’s got his attorneys making actual filings in line with this hallucinatory interpretation of things.
When a client has a mentally incompetent interpretation of what’s going on, and his attorneys are making filings that are based on that mentally incompetent interpretation of what’s going on, it means the attorneys can’t actually help the client in any way. They’re too busy humoring his delusions. For awhile it’s felt like Trump’s people knew there was nothing they could do to save him, and they were just trying to keep him sated on his way down. Now it really feels like it.
